Apr. 16, 1964 | LBJ Press Conference (Q&A)

Apr. 16, 1964 - President Johnson spoke out today against violent civil rights demonstrations and pleaded for “moderation” among whites and Negroes.
The President told his press conference that as long as Negroes are discriminated against, they have a right to protest. But he warned that actions which take the law into an individual’s hands or threaten public safety and health jeopardize the cause of civil rights.
“We do not think the violation of one right or the denial of one right should permit the violation of another right,” he said.
He appealed to Congress to pass the filibuster-stalled civil rights bill promptly.
The President spoke against a background of new incidents or threats of incidents that could lead to racial violence.
Among these are the plan of the suspended Brooklyn chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality to jam traffic to the opening of the New York World’s Fair next Wednesday by stalling cars on the main roads. This same group threatened and then withdrew the threat to urge New York Negroes to turn on water faucets to diminish the city’s water supply.
An hour before the President’s press conference, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, speaking at the convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington, appealed for compliance with the civil rights bill after it has become law. Both he and President Johnson predicted that it would pass.
The Attorney General warned that “trouble and violence” would follow if non-compliance is preached, as it was in places in the South after the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing racial discrimination in public schools.
Mr. Kennedy was followed by a group of Negro leaders who issued a statement denouncing the Brooklyn plan for “stall-ins” on the roads to the far. The statement was ready to the editors by Whitney Young, director of the National Urban League.

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